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Things To Do in LA this Weekend: Farmers Market Fall Fest, Depot Day, and Lots of Halloween Scares

Photo courtesy of The Original Farmers Market
Photo courtesy of The Original Farmers Market
10/10/19 - By Toby B

The weekends around here have been Halloweeny for a while now, but they're starting to get a little...scary. And I don't just mean because you realized that your kid's desired costume is on backorder til Christmas so you may have to make one yourself. I mean honest to goodness, Momma's too old for this, scare the bejeebus out of you, old school nightmare-inducing terror.

Thank heavens for the light side. The pumpkin paths with a little extra, the fall festival in the middle of our big city, the old fashioned mechanisms, and the prehistoric history. Nothing beats the look of joy on an elephant's face as he chows down on a whole pumpkin. (At least I think that's joy?) Nothing beats the look of joy on a mom's face when she meets her childhood hearthrob. (Now I know that's joy!)

This weekend you can go to your happy place, whether it's a train depot, a Japanese garden, the land of the dead, or outer space. Tons of fun, and none of it scary. Except for that thing about the costume. Anyone know a good seamstress?

Keep reading for our favorite picks for the weekend, which totally aren't scary...

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

Reyes Adobe Days. Photo by James Johnson Photography
Reyes Adobe Days. Photo by James Johnson Photography

ALL WEEKEND

Fall Festival (Original Farmers Market)

Fairfax
Kids can enjoy the wonders of a country fair in the middle of the city. The Original Farmers Market on Fairfax plays host to the Fall Festival, featuring such family-friendly attractions as a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, fall-themed games, kids crafts, photo ops, and live entertainment.  READ MORE

Reyes Adobe Days

Agoura Hills
Reyes Adobe Days returns! The weekend-long celebration of California's heritage doesn't scrimp on the fun, with a parade, pony rides, and a petting zoo. READ MORE

Japanese Garden Festival

La Canada-Flintridge
Descanso Gardens' annual family-friendly festival celebrates the art and culture of Japan.  READ MORE

Coco at the El Capitan

Hollywood
Remember Coco? The El Capitan brings back the award-winning Disney-Pixar feature for a limited run.  Mariachi Divas and the Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles perform live on stage as guests enter the theatre. The audience is then treated to the Fiesta of Lights featuring music from the movie. READ MORE

Kidspace Spooktacular: Monster Mash

Pasadena
Costumed kids can explore the Arroyo Adventure after hours, meeting fun and frightful characters while searching for candy and other treats. READ MORE

Los Angeles Comic Con

Downtown
Los Angeles Comic Con is LA's largest event for comics, gaming, sci-fi, anime, cosplay, and pop culture. Fans can attend over 300 panels and presentations showcasing some of the most recognized and beloved names in pop culture READ MORE

TEMPORARY CLOSURE: Exhibit: Natural History of Horror

Exposition Park
UPDATE: Beginning Saturday, March 14, the Natural History Museum is closed until further notice. READ MORE

Exhibit : Castle Builder: Build Your Kingdom!

Santa Ana
The drawbridge is about to close on Discovery Cube OC's castle building exhibit. READ MORE

Cartoon Club

Hollywood
Cartoon Club celebrates the art and history of animation with Saturday morning screenings of rare cartoon gems. December's event is holiday themed! READ MORE

Seaside Highland Games

Ventura
Once in the Highlands, the Highlands of … Ventura? Massed pipe bands, Scottish entertainers, clan tents, Highland dancing, sheep herding, military reenactments, a Children's Glen where kids can learn about bagpipes and sword fighting, and big men in kilts throwing things create a weekend of family fun. READ MORE

Classic Horror Films at Old Town Music Hall

El Segundo
The Old Town Music Hall's October movies feature monstrously big stars, including Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Phantom of the Opera. These films offer Halloween scares (and some giggles) with a classic edge, as well as some more recent chillers. READ MORE

Pumpkin Nights

Pomona
Pumpkin Nights invites visitors (or “Pumpkinheads”) into an interactive Halloween experience, featuring dazzling, multi-sensory Halloween displays and eight Pumpkin Lands created with over 3,000 hand-carved pumpkins and funkins. READ MORE

27th Annual Fall Harvest Festival at Underwood Farms

Moorpark
Underwood Family Farms' annual Fall Harvest Festival features pig races, animal shows, a corn maze and gourd tunnel, a combine slide, tractor rides, Farmer Craig’s Chicken Show, hay pyramids, and animals to feed, as well as a gigantic pumpkin patch. READ MORE

Pumpkinliner

Fillmore
Fillmore & Western Railway invites families to hop on board a vintage train to a festive pumpkin patch. Choose between two different pumpkin patch experiences—Prancer's Farm or Loose Caboose—for plenty of fun choosing the perfect pumpkin. READ MORE

Nights of the Jack

Calabasas
Nights of the Jack is a family-friendly, Halloween-themed show situated on a mile-long nature trail filled with thousands of hand-carved jack-o'-lanterns.   New elements for 2024 include a luminous field of flowers, projection mapping that transforms ordinary buildings into fantastical wonders, a sparkling Halloween House light show, a lighted swing photo op, and a graveyard skeleton display.    READ MORE

Absolutely Halloween

Santa Monica
Santa Monica Playhouse presents the tale of a sweet young girl named Candy, who learns some surprising lessons about life, love, laughter, and sugar. A colorful array of characters takes her on a magical All Hallows Eve adventure, and the audience must help Candy save Halloween. READ MORE

Boo at the LA Zoo

Griffith Park
A trip to the LA Zoo is always a treat, but the last two weekends of October are especially sweet: this year's Boo at the Zoo includes trick-or-treat stations with Mars candies.  READ MORE

Pumpkin Patch Express

Perris
All aboard! Families can ride the Pumpkin Patch Express to the Pumpkin Patch at Orange Empire Railway, where they can select and decorate pumpkins to take home. READ MORE
Watch how a volcano explodes at Prehistoric OC. Photo courtesy of Prehistoric OC
Watch how a volcano explodes at Prehistoric OC. Photo courtesy of Prehistoric OC

SATURDAY OCTOBER 12

Prehistoric OC

Buena Park
The OC goes way back.... Prehistoric OC is a free family-friendly event exploring the natural and cultural history of Orange County. Guests can enjoy fun and educational activities presented by OC Parks archaeologists and paleontologists along with exhibitors from local cultural, paleontological and geological organizations. READ MORE

BHCP Kids Club

Baldwin Hills
  The BHCP Kids Club is held on the second Saturday of the month, offering a variety of free activities for children aged 3 - 13 and their families.   READ MORE

Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver: Author Talk & Book Signing

West LA
OMG It's the FONZ! Emmy Award-winning actor Henry Winkler joins Lin Oliver for a celebration of their new, out-of-this-world middle-grade series, Alien Superstar. READ MORE

Monterey Park Geranium Festival & Artwalk

Monterey Park
Monterey Park’s 6th Annual Geranium Festival and ArtWalk offers “Art in the Park, with a little Bark.” READ MORE

99th Anniversary Parade and Park Festival

Montebello
Happy 99th, Montebello! The City celebrates its 99th anniversary with parade and festival. READ MORE

American Girl's Free Fall Festival

Fairfax
American Girl hosts a free Fall Festival. Guests can play a round of Blaire Bingo, inspired by 2019 Girl of the Year Blaire Wilson. At “Guessing Station” folks can wager on the weight of a plump pumpkin, or the number of candy corns in a jar. READ MORE

La Habra PD Open House

La Habra
La Habra PD holds its annual open house. Guests can tour the police station and jail. There are K-9 and police motorcycle demonstrations and displays of SWAT vehicles, police cars and equipment, and a DUI Command Post trailer. READ MORE

San Fernando Valley Halloween Drive-In Nights

Lake Balboa
Halloween fans can enjoy a retro-style drive-in experience with two weekends of double features. Each night features one light hearted film and one that's more chilling. READ MORE

Mostly Blues Festival

Orange
Musco Center for the Arts offers blues fans a free outdoor concert featuring Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee Booker T, the New Orleans blues band The Iguanas, and "Bombay Blues Man" Aki Kumar. READ MORE

Culver City Art Walk & Roll Festival 2024

Culver City
Culver City turns up the volume with this year’s rockin’ Art Walk and Roll Festival. The festival features artists, live music, eclectic food trucks, wine and beer gardens, tastings, fun kid’s activities, and interactive art experiences. READ MORE

Creepy Critters

Arcadia
Just in time for Halloween, kids can meet the creepy critters that call the Arboretum home. This fun educational program introduces the Arboretum's resident tarantula, scorpion, millipede, hissing cockroaches, and worms. READ MORE

Haunted Adventure

Burbank
This nighttime event transforms Stough Canyon Park and the Starlight Bowl into a Halloween maze accompanied by food trucks and carnival games, presented by the Burbank Docents. The Haunted Adventure is a fifteen-minute walk in and around the Starlight Bowl, accompanied by dozens of ghouls.  READ MORE

Movie Night: Hocus Pocus Under the Giant Wheel

Irvine
Irvine Spectrum Center hosts a special Halloween edition of its movie nights under the Giant Wheel with a seasonal classic: Hocus Pocus (PG). READ MORE

Street Food Cinema 2024

Pacific Palisades: Beetlejuice
Street Food Cinema goes on adventure with a screening of Up! at the LA Arboret--  squirrel!   READ MORE
All aboard at Depot Day. Photo courtesy of Travel Town
All aboard at Depot Day. Photo courtesy of Travel Town

SUNDAY OCTOBER 13

Depot Day 2024

Griffith Park
Depot Day is Travel Town's annual celebration and open house. Details of this year's event are TBA, but typically, highlights include performances by local high school bands, a giant indoor & outdoor train displays, tours of historic railway passenger cars, woodcarver and blacksmith demonstrations, and the chance to see restoration work in progress! READ MORE

Skirball Harvest Festival - A Sukkot Celebration

West LA
The Skirball invites families to ring in the fall harvest season and celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot at this day-long festival.  READ MORE

Carnegie Observatories Open House

Pasadena
Look to the stars!  Families can explore the past, present, and future of astronomy at the Carnegie Observatories Open House.  This year's event is a special celebration of  Carnegie astronomer Edwin Hubble's first major discovery. Guests can learn about how astronomical history happened right here in  in San Gabriel mountains!    READ MORE

Free 2nd Sunday at PAM: Silk Road

Pasadena
Pasadena's museum honoring all things Asian opens its doors for free on the second Sunday of every month. November's event marks its fourth annual celebration of the Silk Road. This year's event highlights the importance of food and spice trade along the ancient route. READ MORE

Story Pirates

Beverly Hills
The kid-centric company is back at the Wallis for more free outdoor musical sketch comedy based on stories written by children, for children. READ MORE

Fall Faire & Pumpkin Patch

Newport Beach
The fun at the ENC's annual Fall Faire and Pumpkin Patch has been an autumn tradition since 1975.   READ MORE

Ferdinand the Bull

Topanga
Ferdinand does not wish to fight. But he does want to see a play under the oaks! READ MORE

Annual Fall Festival

Glendale
The Americana at Brand invites kid for a scary-good time at its Annual Fall Festival on The Green. READ MORE

Annual Green Hills Harvest Festival

Rancho Palos Verdes
The Annual Green Hills Harvest Festival at Green Hills Memorial Park offers a pumpkin patch, a fun maze, multiple food trucks, arts and crafts for children, hay rides, and live music READ MORE

10th Annual Splash & Dash Youth Triathlon

Simi Valley
The 10th Annual Splash and Dash Youth Triathlon is for youth ages 5-15. Kids participate in three events: swimming, biking, and running. READ MORE

Performance on the Frog

Pasadena
Let the rhythm move you!  Rhythm Child helps kids find their inner percussionist. READ MORE

A Faery Hunt's Fairy Fun Time at the LA Arboretum

Arcadia
The faeries from A Faery Hunt celebrate the beauty of nature as they create Faeryland at the LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. The performers weave a delightful experience filled with dancing, singing, and stories of faery magic and fun. And who knows, you might run into a roaming peacock! READ MORE

Sunday Studio: Alan Nakagawa

Downtown
For October's Sunday Studio workshop, MOCA invites guests to join artist Alan Nakagawa in creating an artwork inspired by the 40th anniversary exhibition, The Foundation of the Museum. READ MORE

Places featured in this article:

Kidspace Children's Museum
Ventura County Fairgrounds
American Girl Store at the Grove
police station at the La Habra Civic Center
Musco Center for the Arts, Chapman University
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Rotating locations, including the Autry Museum
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Environmental Nature Center
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden